For all of our managed clients:

We offer more than just investments. No investment strategy is complete without some consideration as to how your investments integrate into the "whole" of your financial well being.

Conducting and attending "ESTATE PLANNING" meetings are part of our ACCRESCENT PROGRAM. We accompany you to the meetings to meet with your attorney, if you like. We will provide your attorney with all the documents and information he needs to complete your financial estate plan. While attorneys are very good at drafting estate plans, they do not, as general rule, implement them. Let our expertise in this area assist you. If you do not have an attorney we will provide one with whom we have a strong professional relationship. We choose our estate attorneys based on their competence in Trusts and Wills, not criminal law and civil litigation. The greatest problem in having an attorney without a financial planner is, Trusts get written but seldom funded. The best plan, not implemented, is the same as no plan at all. A Certified Financial Planner, familiar with your accounts and personal financial information chairs all planning meetings. Our planning services is included as part of your asset management fee.

TAX ISSUES involving your finances are often complex. Whether it's as simple as refinancing a home or determining tax withholdings on retirement distributions, we offer planning meetings to solve these problems. While we don't take the place of your CPA, we provide guidance in many specialized areas of taxes such as charitable deductions, estate taxes, retirement distributions, estate transfers to heirs, pension distributions and trust income. At tax time if your CPA needs information to complete your schedule D we can provide it for you, if we originated your portfolio. If you do not have a CPA and are struggling with some of these issues we will recommend one to you. We have a strong working relationship with several. They all must be board certified by the AICPA. We choose them based on their expertise in different tax structures. We perceive individual tax returns, corporate returns or trust returns as different areas of competence, as many CPA's choose to specialize. We recommend the CPA best suits your individual needs. Furthermore, we provide them with all documents necessary to implement your tax strategies. We will attend meetings with them in order to provide you the continuity of service that you deserve.

RETIREMENT PLANNING has become the goal of many Americans. Our quest for the good life at retirement deserves more than just empty hopes. Doing a genuine retirement plan that is customized for you, involves many variables. Inflation, amount of savings, portfolio investment returns, the order you choose to use your dollars, as well as the infusion of additional money from outside sources such as FERS, CRS, VRS, social security, defined benefit or contribution pensions must be considered.

Finally, you have to define a income withdrawal strategy during retirement years to insure your money doesn't get spent before you intend. Too large or too small withdrawals could mean placing a hardship on yourself you don't deserve. Given that portfolios and people can be uniquely different, withdrawal strategies need to be as well.

The returns on your portfolio, as well as the practical percent or dollar amount you withdraw, will be based on your portfolio design and your ongoing risk tolerance. We can do the calculations necessary to give you a firm understanding of your options, as opposed to just "letting it happen". Would you want to only count on Social Security for your retirement needs?